Coalitions have been very successful in attaining their legislative goals.
They have helped to establish legislation regulating interior design in the 19
states named earlier, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Coalitions afford
all designers the opportunity to partake in the legislative process. Among
their membership they include members of interior design professional
organizations, nonaffiliated interior designers, architects, and other design
professionals who believe that there is a need to regulate interior design.
They also believe that interior designers have a definite impact on the health
and life safety of their state’s citizenry.EDUCATION
At this time
At this time, states that regulate the interior design profession require vary-
ing amounts of education for design professionals. One state has no educa-
tional requirement, while others require four- or five-year degrees. Most
states, however, require at least a two-year degree. Since 1998, the NCIDQ
has required that interior designers have at least a two-year degree to be eli-
gible to sit for the examination. While some states recognize other examina-
tions, the NCIDQ examination is the only one that has been adopted by all
states and jurisdictions that have interior design legislation.
In 1968, the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) was founded with
the primary purpose of advancing the needs of educators of interior design
professionals. In 1973, FIDER was established. FIDER’s primary purpose is
to review and evaluate accreditation programs of interior design. FIDER
accredits only undergraduate programs of interior design education. The
accreditation is based on FIDER’S 12 Standards of Excellence for the Inte-
rior Design profession, as follows.
Standard 1.- Curriculum Structure (The curriculum is structured to facilitate and advance
student learning.)
Standard 2. - Design Fundamentals (Students have a foundation in the fundamentals
of art and design, theories of design and human behavior, and discipline-
related history.)
CHAPTER 21 LEGISLATION 469